Since an irregular-formed vessel having a plug (that is, a bag-like vessel like a pouch) has an irregular form of the vessel itself, when handling the irregular vessel, the mouth opening is small in diameter, which is difficult to grip.
Then, to facilitate mechanical handling of irregular-formed vessel having such a mouth plug, a method is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Utility Model Publication 5-11183, in which a plurality of flange parts are provided at intervals at the mouth plug part of the vessel, the flange parts are engaged in an opening groove part of a C-sectioned elongate channel tool, so that the irregular-formed vessel is hang down on the channel tool through the flange part of the mouth plug part, thereby achieving storage and transportation of irregular-formed vessels.
Such an irregular-formed vessel (hereinafter called as "pouch"), after being produced by an irregular bag making machine, is fed to a filling apparatus where it is filled in with a predetermined content. The flange part can also be utilized when the pouch is carried from the bag making machine to the filling apparatus.
As described above, in transportation of the pouch from the bag making machine to the filling apparatus, for example, when the filling apparatus is low in capacity (30 to 50 bags/min), the bag making position and the filling position are separate from each other, and transportation between both positions is carried out using a transportation tool and a delivery box.
However, when a high-capacity filling apparatus is used, since the pouch transportation cost is increased and a large storage space becomes required, a requirement is increased for placing the bag making machine and the filling apparatus at the same position which are used in combination.
Further, when a transportation tool is used in pouch transportation, a cost is required for the tool, also when charging the vessels into the machine, a manual work or an automated machine for charging are required, resulting in an increased charging cost.
Still further, when the pouch is a food containing vessel, use of a transportation tool or a delivery box in the pouch transportation is not preferable in view of sanitation, since there is a danger of contamination of the tool or delivery box during transportation.
With a view to obviate the above prior art problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an irregular-formed vessel transportation apparatus and method which combines a plurality of low-capacity bag making machines with a high-capacity filling apparatus to achieve efficient transportation of pouch from the bag making machine to the filling apparatus.
In transporting the above pouch from the bag making machine to the filling apparatus which is a continuous rotary type, the vessel feeding method is generally of a type in which a conveyor, a timing screw having a feed groove conforming to the plane shape of the pouch, and a star wheel for taking the pouch over to the filling apparatus by coinciding the timing with the timing screw are combined.
However, for an irregular shape like a pouch which changes in shape by filling in with a liquid, the bags cannot be arranged and fed by a conventional conveyor, and since the head of the pouch is small for handling by the timing screw and the body shape is irregular that cannot be handled, it is impossible to utilize the vessel feeding method by the conveyor and the timing screw.
Yet further, since the bag-formed vessel like pouch is in the form of a flat plate before filling, it has an advantage that the vessels can be stored or transported by stacking, and utilizing the feature, an apparatus is developed which uniformly arranges directions of the vessels, feeds a stack of a plurality of vessels, and feeds the vessels one by one to the filling apparatus with correct timing by a vacuum sucking disk (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publications 5-170252, 6-48401).
However, although the method of feeding the stacked pouches one by one to the filling apparatus by a vacuum sucking disk or the like is easily applied to a filling apparatus of an intermittent moving type, since it does not make continuous operation, the method is difficult to be applied to a continuously rotating rotary filling apparatus.
Even if a means for taking over the pouch following the movement of the filling apparatus can be used, there are problems of a low vessel feeding speed, requiring a plurality of feeding units for a high-capacity filling apparatus, and a complex layout, resulting in a high cost.
With the aim of eliminating the above prior art problems, another object of the present invention is to provide a feeding apparatus and feeding method of irregular vessels which can achieve continuous feeding of pouches suitable for continuously rotating rotary filling apparatus.
Further, as a filling apparatus for filling in fed unfilled pouches with a liquid and capping, an intermittent rotary filling apparatus in which a liquid filling part and a cap tightening part are mounted on the outer periphery of an intermittent rotation table, and a number of pouches held on the outer periphery of the table are filled up with the liquid and capped during one turn of the table does not use a rotary joint for liquid and air piping and electrical wiring and the like is possible to perform operations such as liquid filling, capping and the like with a simple apparatus as compared with a continuous rotating rotary filling apparatus which moves smoothly at a constant speed, however, since an intermittent operation must be performed matching the pitch time with the filling operation which requires the longest time in the operations of the filling part and the cap tightening part, the intermittent filling apparatus could be used only for applications of low filling capacity.
Therefore, a filling apparatus improved for the purpose of increasing the filling capacity while making use of the advantage of intermittent rotation is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication 59-46874. This machine is provided with a member for supporting a plurality of filling nozzles which can perform liquid filling at a time in a plurality of pouches arranged on the periphery of a round table, the filling nozzle member can be moved along with the table during the time when the filling nozzle member moves from a specific start position on the table to an end point, after the filling nozzle is pulled out from the pouch at the end point on the table, the filling nozzle member is returned to the start position, where the filling nozzle is inserted into the pouch to begin liquid filling so that filling is completed until reaching the end point, and a sufficient filling time is ensured even when the pitch time of intermittent movement of the table is short, thereby improving the filling capacity.
As a filling apparatus for a pouch which changes in shape during liquid filling, there have been known a filling apparatus using an intermittent rotation table of a low speed (50 bags/min) as a transportation means as described above, or one which is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication 59-46874 using a shortened pitch time of intermittent movement of the table as described above, however, although these are simple in structure and low-cost, since the transportation table makes an intermittent movement, high-speed intermittent movement cannot be performed to avoid liquid scattering during pouch transportation or falling down of pouch due to vibration, therefore improvement of filling capacity is limited.
With a view to eliminate the above prior art problems, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a filling apparatus for irregular-formed vessels which eliminates intermittent movement of the transportation table and is high in filling capacity with a simple structure.